The African Mining Vision: Perspectives On Mineral Resource Development In Africa

Abstract

This article argues that, after the recent boom, the African Mining Vision
(AMV), upon making development central in the extractive industry, is a
paradigm whose time has come. We hypothesize that the Vision is forwardlooking with a robust ideational foundation, able to seize emerging policy
windows towards lasting paradigm shift for Africa’s extractive sector. The
article presents a dynamic framework for analysing policy change in the
extractive sector in Africa, based on the power of ideas and interests networks.
While the crisis in the sector presents an opportunity, the article analyses the
binding political economy constraints that African governments would have
to overcome at the global, regional and country levels to implement the
transformative ideas of the AMV. The article presents a matrix systematically
analysing possible scenarios for implementing the Africa Mining Vision. The
implementation of the AMV would likely be non-linear. Vested interests,
including resistance to change and diversity of country contexts, could lead
to varied outcomes in the implementation of AMV in the short and medium
terms.